slim design for behind a screen in a small room...

[benareeno]

I have a smallish home theater...maybe 17 feet deep, and I want to put front LCR behind an AT screen.

My experiences so far with home theater and speakers are that I think fuller range speakers simply sound better to me than satellites and subs. In a small room like mine, I get a pleasant and full sound from 3 B&W 602's in the front. I think if all 5 satellites were 602's the room would be full of smooth bass energy ( a la multiple subs). The problem I have with the 602's is that they are likely too deep to put behind a screen.

Some prefer to have massive bass and massive bass sound...this is not what I am after. I enjoy good musical soundtracks and I'm not all that concerned with the deepest bass for the big explosions. I see posts of people who are very concerned about bass at 17Hz...I'm not one of those people.

A few questions I have:

Are there any designs that are very shallow with ability to be hung on the wall and still yield a good fuller range sound (perhaps into the mid 40 Hz range)? So far, I haven't really found any.

I suppose I would have to consider a smaller front LCR perhaps an MTM configuration and likely require them to be sealed. I could then mate them with 2 small subs. I am willing to go this route as my system is movies only. I don't need THX level dynamics...but a warm and musical sound. It's very important for me to finally try an AT screen...the speaker behind the screen which will finally put a realistic anchor to the dialog.

Any thoughts here? It's my first post in this forum...I likely made it way too long.

[rob g]

Anything very slim will lack deep bass, end of....
How about going about it another way and moving your screen mounting forward to accommodate larger or normal depth sats/spkrs.

Otherwise listen to decent quality flat satellite speakers like the Kef T range or PMC wafer.
If you want diy design look at bass mid drive units with shallow baskets and inverted magnets. Another option would be to experiment with BMR drive units for mid and treble.
also you could consider in wall speakers.

[Pano]

Welcome to the forum!
How deep? How much room do you have behind the screen?

[benareeno]

No in walls...It's a basement wall and I think the drywall is attached to strips instead of studs.

So, what if I took the drivers and crossover from the B&W and built a slimmer and longer cabinet with the same internal volume? Would I not maintain the bass response??

I think this AT screen will promt me to re-enter the sub world. 2 small subs to start with, i think. I will look into the KEF t's...how do they get bass response with such a shallow cabinet?

Ben

[benareeno]

Thanks for the welcome...

the screen is not installed yet...I can make it any distance that I want. but with the room being so small..I don't want to bring it in too far.

Just looked at the KEF...and they seem expensive and they would likely need to be crossed at 110 or 120 Hz...not something that I think I want to do. I could be wrong there though...just, experience has shown me that a larger speaker with a lower crossover seems to yield me better sound.

Any thoughts on MTM vs TM?

[Pano]

Sounds like you don't even have enough depth for the drivers. Don't you have about 8" behind the screen?

Changing the shape of the cabinets will change the bass response. It may not matter to you, but it's not likely to be the same.

[rob g]

Kef T's don't really do bass, dang laws of physics!
However they do sound quite pleasant for "lifestyle" satellites. The driver integration with the sub's is well managed.
The PMC's are far superior but the cost is commensurate.

You could create new more shallow cabinets of similar volume but observe the baffle width and driver positioning.

[benareeno]

I will experiment with screen distance and see what I find objectionable. Perhaps I have more room to play with than I think.

What must be taken into consideration for a speaker that is mounted flush to the wall?

Also, any thoughts on front ported speakers behind a screen? I'm wondering if they would cause the screen to ripple.

Ben

[rob g]

I doubt you would have problems with ports, just how much power will you be pumping through these speakers!


Placing your existing speakers closer to the back wall will increase apparent bass output. Close to wall placement will curtail image depth, less of a problem when speakers are used in surround, where the rear speakers pull the sound into the room.

A centre is a must if you have listeners who will sit off axis, but I see you have 3!, how did you get the other one unit?

[benareeno]

Not a lot...I think 75 watts per, and never to reference.